The Heart of Gruesig Njor
The year is 156 V and rumors and hearsay have traveled far about the village of Stokkseyri on Hatchet Island off the Western Coast of Thessan. The village chieftain became a very wealthy man in very short time and has called for an increase of traders from Wynstport. This also drew the attention of thieves and adventurers. The party came from many backgrounds, mercenaries, thieves and investigators. Finding a small village of fishermen and woodcutters is not what they expected and they were not given a warm welcome. Looking for shelter in the villages unnamed tavern, they were warned by a one-armed grey elf to avoid the Rimeclad keep, learning of the trader Gruesig Njor and the last whereabouts of the grey elf's brother along with Hundir and Morgrim's missing companion. The one-armed elf “Yes, the rimeclad Keep. I’d not go there if I were you.” he gripped his damaged shoulder. “I tried to talk them out of it but failed, Grueseg Njor hired us he help him free a princess. He sounded crazy but his love seemed genuine. He hired myself, my brother and a dwarven mercenary from the mainland. He had some kind of strange stone eye and claimed to have knowledge of the keeps treasure. I couldn’t talk them out of it. The chief has been very strict about anyone visiting the keep. I guided them to the keep nearly six days ago but fled when we were attacked. I was grievously injured as you can see. The chief found me dying near my brother's body. I barely made it back." They asked the mysteriously wealthy town chief, Skaas Gunnor, who began purchasing large amounts of iron, but his refusal to cooperate filled them with mistrust. They decided to break into his home the following night. The town grew more suspicious as darkness fell. Bands of iron reinforced every window and door as the inkeeper began to frantically latch every entrance into the tavern. The party soon found out why when they refused heed his warning and latch their own window. The nearby forest came alive as skeletal figures made of wood crept through the undergrowth. Creaking female figures crawled on all fours, leaving rotten shadows allong the log walls of the tavern. Hundir slammed the iron barred window shut, noticing the iron seared the creatures bark-like flesh. They hear running footsteps from the hall outside as well as the slam of a heavy door. Their door suddenly burst open and half-decayed dryads swarmed them. The innkeeper's private door has been barred and locked from the inside, but the front door of the inn had been left open allowing the fey to attack the travelers. The party manage to fight off the dryads and their mind-altering magics, deciding to make their move at dawn. In the home of Skaas Gunnor, the party met an imprisoned fey named Bahgal the Boggle. This small oily sprite explained to them that the mad dryads trees were cut down by the humans who are trying to kidnap the princess in Rimeclad Keep. Bahgal told them that Skaas Gunnor was raiding his princesses keep and purposefully causing a war with the local fey, exporting treasure from the keep as well as products made from the fey themselves. A secret tunnel beneath his home lead deep into the forest. Bahgal He begged for release from his iron manacles but took an instant liking to Hundir, despite the party leaving him shackled around the neck. The party decide to ignore the grey elf's warning and have Bahgal guide them to the Rimeclad keep. Following the tunnel to a clearing where the primordial pine trees were felled. They came upon a shallow grave marked with the grey elf god Bahamut. Presumably the grave of the grey elf's brother. Along the trail were scattered corpses, some human, some ogre. The keep itself earned its name, teetering on the edge of a cliff side and being frosted in a thick layer of sea ice. The door was chiseled open, but guarded by several small figures, fey creatures who did not greet the humanoid trespassers with kindness. The party managed to dispatch the fey guards but found most of the keep looted already. At this time they spotted Skaas Gunnor approaching with an escort of Empyrean Inquisitors. The party fled into the basement, discovering a vague humanoid figure frozen in a block of ice. Bahgal identified it as the princess and begged Eladia Buente to free her. Skaas Gunnor and the Inquisitors march in, Skaas's antique crossbow drawn and pointed at Eladia. The leader of the Inquisitors stops and removed his helmet, identifying himself as Soledad Buente, one of Eladia's brothers. He commands her to back away from the fey, pointing to Bahgal and the figure in ice. Skaas panicks and fires a crossbow bolt into Realk starting a panicked fight. Soledad shouts to Eladia angry at her rejection of the Empyrean faith. She moves to release the princess as her stone giant master had instructed. Her sword chipped into the ice as her brother's rage felled Dagon and Bahgal. Skaas was incinerated by a rightfully aggravated Realk. Sitting on a bronze alter near the ice was a human heart, the Heart of Gruesig Njor who's misguided love for the princess had brought him to this ruin. The heart, still beating was warm to the touch when Eladia picked it up. Pressing it to the ice, the opaque wall shimmered briefly. The ice shattered to reveal not a fair princess, but a withered crone. She cackled as her enchantment wove its way into the minds of Hundir and Morgrim, temporarily turning them against their companions. The ice hag attempted to force her way through the party towards the exit but was unable to overcome their united might after Hundir shook off the enchantment. Soledad turned to face the fallen hag's body, enraged at the loss of such a knowledgeable fey. his deal with Skaas allowed him to deliver fey to Grand Inquisitor Var'izan in hopes of locating the fey queen Mab. Their search for a servant of Mab must continue, but he warned Eladia. His thirst for revenge must be satisfied, family or not, for a man can not live with vengeance in his heart. She nodded, knowing this would be the last time she and her brother would see each other on civil terms. Soledad turned to leave, mounting his horse and riding back to the village. Eladia, looking down at Gruesig Njor's heart to discover that it was now made from solid gold. The party limped outside, having completed their mission to find the sky blackening and the figures of humanoid crones circling the tower. The hags sisters had closed in, witnessing the battle through the stone hag's eye. The adventurers drew their weapons in preparation to fight for their lives...